Buenos Aires - last weekend

Sorry we're a bit behind on this, I actually wrote this on Wednesday but blogger has been refusing to publish any posts! Will update more very soon...

It's now Wedensday evening and as we've been here for five days I thought it was about time to add an update or 2 before I start to forget things - photos to follow, sorry non readers! It doesn't feel like we've done a huge amount, but then when I start to think about it I suppose we have been reasonably busy. We just don't feel the need to rush around as for a change we have plenty of time. Also it has been unusually hot for mid Spring; although Andrew can handle striding around in the sunshine after years of practice, I've been struggling a little more and as a result the pace has generally been reduced to a slow stroll!

Saturday was our first full day here, and we decided to be true tourists and head to the Recoleta cemetery where Evita is buried. As we walked the half hour or so to get there we came across a large display of giant model hearts in Plaza San Martin, each one decorated in a different way. We were told that the exhibition was commissioned to celebrate a local heart surgeon winning the Nobel prize. It was one of those unusual things that it's always good to a stumble across, and is indicative of the variety of things going on in Buenos Aires, particulalry arty stuff.

The weekend crafts fair in the park next to the cemetery was another indication of this. Granted there are some tacky things on sale there and tourists are the main buyers, but generally speaking the many stalls contained very different things than we had seen elsewhere. There was plenty I decided would look lovely in the house we don't yet own (a common theme) but as most items were either breakable (gorgeous glass) or wooden (and therefore difficult to get into Australia) our stash of pesos lived to see another day. Good job really as relative to other places we have been it is quite expensive here - although still very cheap by UK standards - and we are certainly spending more in day to day expenses.

We finally made it to the cemetery itself, and found it rather odd to be a sold a complete map of where the deceased elite of Argentina are now at rest. Many people come here just to see Evita's tomb, but the whole place is a spectacle in itself as the tombs are so ornate - in fact some might say over the top, you can make up your own mind when you see the photos! It is a big area surrounded by high walls, but as it is in the middle of the city the surrounding area is quite built up. Many people must therefore look out of their office windows and see tourists wandering round a cemetery, strange when you think about it but seemingly very normal here.

Pausing only for a quick beer, we wandered back towards 'home' through some of the smarter areas of town. As it was Saturday evening we did think of going out to some bars etc but in the end we didn't really feel like it so opted for a quiet evening instead. The bar in the hostel is really chilled out - and has some very comfy sofas - so we were quite happy to hang around here. The clubbing scene is apparently really big in Buenos Aires (in fact we have met one couple who have done several 20 hour bus journeys just to get back here for the weekend!) but seeing as we don't really go clubbing at home we're not really that bothered about it here. It was also a case of trying to kick our body clocks back into something vaguely resembling normality, and making sure that we were awake to do some more things on Sunday.

We were therefore up at a reasonable time on Sunday morning and headed down to the San Telmo area of town. This is where a lot of the tango culture is concentrated, and is also home to a huge antiques market on a Sunday. The number of stalls and shops was impressive, and it was good to just soak up the atmosphere. Unfortunately we weren't able to spend too much time people watching, but we didn't mind too much as we were off to the futbol...

Bearing in mind I had just heard the depressing news of the Liverpool defeat at Old Trafford I wasn't really in the mood for football, but whilst in Argentina it just had to be done! Unfortunately there wasn't a Boca Juniors game this weekend, but we did get tickets for the next best thing ie the almost as famous River Plate v Rosario Central (mid table). On the advice of several people we had gone as part of a tour - tickets, transfer and a guide included - as it is not really considered safe to head to the ground alone, but to be honest it didn't feel at all threatening. I suppose that may be because I have been to a fair few football matches and so wouldn't really expect it to be the most polite of environments, but of course there is also a fair bit of profit to be made by exploiting tourists' fear of the unknown.

After an early afternoon pick up from the hostel we did several loops of the city centre to pick up other tourists, and eventually we made it to the stadium. We had been told that we would be heading to the club shop (Rivermania) first, which made sense, but it did seem a bit odd that we had to duck under the partially closed shutters to get in. We got the distinct impression that they were expecting a riot and we were being sheltered from it! To be fair, security was tighter than perhaps is usual as there has been some civil unrest in the area over the past week - the Boca game in another area was cancelled because security could't be guaranteed - but I don't think tourists would really be a target and there were no obvious signs of problems in the vicinity.

The match itself was an easy win for River Plate, putting them one point ahead of their arch rivals Boca at the top of the table at least until the games played even out. It wasn't the greatest game of football I've ever seen but the atmosphere was fantastic, two particular highlights being the drenching of the main home and away stands at half time to cool down the packed terraces, and the reaction after the final whistle. We have that on video so will post it up here soon. After the match, we ventured out to a local Chinese restaurant where we had a pretty decent meal. It's definitely one of the advantages of being in a big city to be able to get all types of cuisine again, it's amazing what food you miss simply because you can't get it!